Finals Study Breaks both On and Off Campus

Despite the stress with studying for finals kicking in during this time of year, both Fordham and the city itself have been so consistent in offering great ways to take some breaks during this intense time of studying. At Fordham, we have a couple of days after our designated last day of class, which was on December 10th, that are called reading days. Basically on reading days, we spend as much time preparing and studying for the coming of finals and although I spent a majority of my time studying for finals, which was incredibly long and stressful, I still had a great weekend to look forward to in the city and on campus! On Friday, I managed to score some tickets to a taping of Live with Kelly and Michael and went with a couple of my good friends. Although we went primarily to see Idina Menzel, who was promoting her Christmas album on the show, we were surprised when they let us stay for a second show that was being pre-taped for the holidays with Nick Jonas and Sting! We even got some rehearsal footage of Sting’s performance before the actual taping, and I had some serious goosebumps from when he sang a song from his newest Broadway show “The Last Ship.” It also didn’t hurt that Idina Menzel gave us a little wave when we cheered for her during a commercial break. :) 

Some pics I took of Kelly and Michael interviewing Idina Menzel and Nick Jonas as well as a pic of Idina Menzel getting touched up before singing a song off of her new Holiday Wishes album. We had pretty great seats!

I also found it so interesting to see the behind the scenes action that goes on during these live tapings. Seeing Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan go around the studio and interact with the audience during commercial breaks was something I never realized they could do. They were incredibly gracious, took some pics with fans, and were so funny and down to earth with their interactions with us. 

Kelly Ripa at a commercial break. She was equally as charismatic off camera as she was on!

It wasn’t too much fun waiting in the cold, but with good company and a fun experience at a TV show taping, it was definitely all worth it in the end.

With two of my good friends who are also huge Idina Menzel fans. Waiting in the cold was so much better with good company!

Sunday was the beautiful celebration of Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, and I had the honor of being able to participate in two choirs at the 11:00am and 7:00pm masses. Seeing the church filled that day made mass seem so special, everything from the way the candles were set up in the church to seeing everyone light their candles in a solemn procession was so breath-taking and made me appreciate just how despite this stressful time, we can all join together to celebrate the coming of Christmas. After mass, we celebrated the lighting of the Christmas tree, which made me so ready for Christmas to come around. It’s the little things that Fordham does to bring a community together and to lift each other’s spirits up during a stressful time in every college student’s life that make me so grateful to go here. I wish everyone else the best of luck on their finals, a Merry Christmas and safe travels back home as well!

Fordham doing Christmas right. Picture is the University Church and the Christmas tree that was lit during Gaudete Sunday.